Quirk of Fate, Part 3: The Shadow Spider
by The Master Planner
Summary: In this stirring conclusion to the Quirk of Fate series, Mary Jane Watson, the Amazing SpiderWoman, confronts her greatest, most brutal enemy…herself! If her greatest archenemy doesn't do her in this time around, her own inner demons just might.
1. The Courtship of SpiderWoman

From a library computer in an undisclosed location: Hello, my Loyal Minions. This is the Trickster, pulling out another great story from her bag of tricks. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read the new Quirk of Fate 3, starting with the prologue chapter on your screen, and give feedback (by reviewing). Start...now. Happy reading!

Quirk of Fate, Part 3: The Shadow Spider

In this stirring conclusion to the Quirk of Fate series, Mary Jane Watson, the Amazing Spider-Woman confronts her greatest, most brutal enemy…herself!

The Standard Disclaimer: All characters involved belong to Marvel, unless I note otherwise. Any quotes I may use belong strictly to their authors!

Dramatis Personae: Mary Jane Watson, John Jameson, Edward Brock, Gwen Stacy, Jonathan Storm, Elizabeth Allen, Flash Thompson, Anna Watson

Previously: Mary Jane Watson, the Amazing Spider-Woman, is called back to superhero work by the spirit of her beloved Peter and the mysterious kidnapping of her current boyfriend, Harry Osborn. Harry's disappearance seems linked to a new supervillain called Green Goblin. After retrieving her costume once again and confronting Goblin in a grand battle, Spidey learns the horrible truth—Harry _is_ Goblin, used as his scientist father Norman's guinea pig and driven to avenge his best friend's death. Spidey unmasks herself to him, and reveals her true role in Peter's death. Only in death could Harry find peace, and only in Harry's death could Mary Jane pay the heavy price of her power…And now begin!

Chapter 1: The Courtship of Spider-Woman

"_We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful what we pretend to be." _–Kurt Vonnegut

_evening, watson residence _

"Sorry, Johnny," _she_ was saying over her cell phone. "No revealing my secret identity until at least the fourth date!"

Things seemed to be finally looking up for _her_, by any conventional viewpoint. _She_ was starring in the new Broadway musical _Heroes and Villains_, a satirical look at the New York superhero set. _She_ had nailed the role of Spider-Woman on her first audition—big surprise.

Furthermore, _she_ was being romantically pursued by two separate men: John Jameson, the astronaut son of prominent newspaperman J. Jonah, who loved Mary Jane Watson; and Jonathan Storm, astronaut, fellow superhero, and youngest member of the Fantastic Four, hopelessly in love with Spider-Woman.

The problem with _that_ was that she was certain that the dark, reliable, steady Jameson wouldn't approve of her high-flying superheroine lifestyle, where there was no Mission Control or safety equipment, and she was equally certain that the blonde, impulsive, wild Storm would find her humdrum life as a high school senior superlatively boring.

What's more, she still loved someone else, the late Peter Parker, her inspiration, her angel. _He_ drove her on when she thought of giving up. In fact, she secretly feared to make up her mind at all. Her previous boyfriends had each met unpleasant fates.

Wouldn't _you_ like to be in such a bind? Didn't think so.

"So, we'll meet at 8:00 pm on the Statue of Liberty's torch, then."

She flopped down on the couch, carefully threading the needle. She was wearing her costume to pieces, and a few of the seams were coming loose, and the rushed patch job she'd done a couple months ago after her battle with the Goblin was beginning to fall apart. Between homework, drama class, rehearsals, cheerleading, and superhero work, she hadn't the time lately to make herself a spare.

"Ouch!" Mary Jane stuck the offending finger in her mouth. _Wish I could ask Aunt Anna to do this without arousing her suspicions…_

She hurriedly finished the sewing job and then threw it on, layering her civilian clothes over it. After all, she had a date. Writing a note informing her aunt that she was going to visit her grown sister, she crawled out of the window.

_evening, ellis island_

The Human Torch greeted his new girlfriend with a peck on the cheek and the opening of a suitcase. "I got you a present."

Spider-Woman stared at the offering, a quantity of black goo sitting wetly in a jar. "Exactly _what_ is this?"

"Picked it up on one of our adventures in the vast cosmos. Noticed some intelligent life forms using it as a sort of—living armor, if you will. Then I thought of my lovely superhero girlfriend, whose costume is falling apart."

_Well, it's the thought that counts, right?_ "It's very nice, Torch. Thank you."

"Well, go ahead and put it on for me. Just, you know, fight crime with it on for a few days and tell me how it goes, Spidey."

_At least he gives me better presents than Jameson, _she thought, recalling the Swiss Army knife he'd bought her for her birthday. He didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor when she'd asked him why Switzerland was a neutral country but made Swiss Army knives.

She took the jar home, wanting to throw it out somewhere but thinking better of the idea. She knew Storm had a propensity for practical jokes.

In the safety of her bedroom, she opened the jar, stuck her hand in, let it crawl up her arm. She pushed it back off her arm into the jar, put the lid back on, and crawled into bed.

_morning, midtown high school_

"Man, MJ, you look horrible. What, you pulled an all-nighter and subsisted on double espresso? I know just how you feel, girlfriend."

Mary Jane barely heard Liz Allen's words. _I don't think a cement truck full of double espresso is going to wake me up today._

Liz's boyfriend, Howard "Flash" Thompson, ran up to them with the early edition of the _Daily Bugle_. "Yo, have you gals seen this?"

"If it's about Spider-Woman, I don't want to," Liz rolled her eyes. Mary Jane knew of Liz's jealousy over her boyfriend's attraction to the superheroine, but she couldn't say she was sympathetic without someone knowing she lied.

Flash ignored her. "Look at this!" The top headline stated: _"Spider-Woman's Extreme Makeover."_

Mary Jane peered at J. Jonah Jameson's latest editorial. "'_You Can Take the Spider Out of the Tights, But…_' What's _this_ supposed to be about?" She began to read the editorial aloud. "'The so-called superheroine, Spider-Woman, thinks that wearing an all-black costume and changing her name to "ShadowSpider" will win over jaded but image-conscious New Yorkers.'"

_I don't remember putting that on last night to fight crime,_ Mary Jane worried. On the other hand, _Then again, I really do look good as ShadowSpider._

"Why don't you wear black more, Liz?" Flash was asking her. "You know how black is so slimming…"

With that, Liz angrily stomped away, leaving Mary Jane to tell him, "Wrong move, buster. You know how girls hate to be told they need slimming…"

Mary Jane then busied herself with reading the article: _"With a change in costume and name, the campy, showboating, wisecracking Spider-Woman has become the unbeatable ShadowSpider, stronger, faster, and more powerful than ever..."_

She shook her head at the photograph, which depicted Spider-Woman or ShadowSpider as she was evidently calling herself now, at the lithe young woman in a suit as black as midnight but for the huge white spider splashed over the chest.

_That has to be someone else. Can't be me._

_after school, midtown high parking lot_

"Hey, Mary Jane!" Liz called after her. She was holding her cell phone.

"My cell is webcasting the news. I thought you might be interested in this."

Mary Jane prepared to open and enjoy the can of soda she'd just bought, but grabbed the cell out of her friend's hand instead, ignoring Liz's yelp of dismay. "It can't be. It just _can't_ be."

Even on a tiny cell phone screen, the face and form of Peter Parker's murderer was unmistakable. "I thought he was dead or…" Just when she thought she moved on…

She saw him again, she saw herself holding her first love as his head slumped back, heard that awful rattle she'd heard every minute of every day for a full month after the murder, again. Her world blurred for a moment, threatening to fade away entirely, until she heard Liz Allen's voice as if she were a mile away. "They're tracking him, the five-oh is pinning him on Fifth Avenue, they're going to get him—"

In her anger and grief, Mary Jane crushed the as-yet-unopened can of soda, explosively splattering carbonated water all over her skirt. Liz didn't notice. Good, she didn't need the questions right now.

_No, Liz. "They" aren't going to get him…_

_I am!_


	2. The Return of the Octopus

Chapter 2: The Return of the Octopus

"_Hearing your name, the memories come back again,_

_I remember when it started happening._

_I'd see you in every thought I had and then_

_The thoughts slowly found words attached to them."_

Linkin Park, "Figure.09"

_late afternoon, fifth avenue_

She ran, ducked into a dark alleyway, reflexively tearing off her shirt, pawing for her costume. She felt a tickle as the black costume of the ShadowSpider crept up to cover her, not noticing, leapt up into the air and onto the nearest wall. She skittered up the building higher and higher, not caring about the heights she was scaling, or the danger she was facing, or the fact that he'd beat the stuffing out of her before, or anything except getting her hands on the bastard who had ripped her first love away from her.

She leapt onto a flagpole, swung around it, momentum propelling her onward, leapt to the next building, ascending as rapidly as she did before.

She saw and heard the blinking lights and wailing sirens of police cars far ahead, fired a web line to a building three blocks down, flinging herself forward on it not caring that she'd never done that distance on one swing before.

She didn't care that her sheer rage was fueling her black suit, didn't care that her hands had become taloned like a hawk's feet, didn't care that her muscles under the suit seemed more prominent and defined, didn't care that a quick look in a reflective surface would reveal a newly acquired set of sharp fangs and a long tounge.

In fact, she didn't even notice.

She swooped down towards the street, fired another web in mid-swing, made sure it caught on another building, snapped up on the arc, continued her journey by repeating steps one through four _ad infinitum_, thinking of nothing but Peter.

Worse, all she could think about was that last conversation she had before he headed off to the bank and she climbed up the hospital wall in pursuit of her first supervillain. Actually, she wasn't sure if she should even call that a conversation. An argument, a temper tantrum, the petulant words of a spoiled little girl, demanding _he get the money so he could take her out to dinner, because this is strenuous work and I'm not doing it for free_ was more like it. She was fairly certain that was the last of her words as Mary Jane Watson which Peter carried with him when he was forcibly shuffled off this mortal coil. It was fundamentally unfair on so many levels and it fueled her rage all the more as her swings overtook the police pursuit.

Then she heard her archenemy's hated voice from a rooftop.

"You look good in black, Spider-Woman."

With as much sarcasm as she could muster, she replied, "As do you." His chestnut hair had grown out; he'd replaced his thick glasses with prescription shades; and he was attired in a long black trench coat, black slacks, black button-down shirt, and black gloves. His innate nerdiness was still evident, though; he would fit in entirely with the throngs of geeks lining up for the brand-new video game system were it not for the four enormous robot tentacles sprouting out his back.

Spidey wanted to think about anything else except the tentacles whipping towards her, or worse, the circumstances surrounding her previous battles with him. She thought that if a big movie studio like Sony Pictures ever bought her story, she would be played by Kirsten Dunst and her current opponent would be played by that guy, what's-his-name, who played Snidely Whiplash in _Dudley Do-Right_. Peter, she supposed, might be played by Tobey Maguire, or if they really wanted to stretch reality, Jake Gyllenhaal.

His tentacles shot towards her, but she easily overleapt and dodged them, in spite of his boasting about making his tentacles stronger and faster. The tentacles were so far keeping her away from her master, but otherwise they had absolutely no effect on her. In fact, her legs and arms carried her to where she needed to go; she wasn't even thinking about what she was doing. What she was _thinking_ about was whether James Franco was sufficiently creepy enough to play the dearly departed Harry Osborn in the inevitable sequel.

She grudgingly admitted that Octopus _had_ improved his tentacles somehow. They were acting in perfect concert, bobbing and weaving, feinting to confuse her spidey-sense. Spidey briefly managed to keep away from them, but finally one struck a glancing blow to her head and another came down like the hammer of Thor and swatted her right off the wall. Spidey fell away and down, but quickly recovered, threw a web-line, and bounced upward on it like a bungee-jumper. Her teeth gritted, she leapt towards him, pushing him off the rooftop with a flying kick.

Octopus' pincers drove into the wall, steadying his position, but the adamantium broke pieces off the wall in doing so. Neither of them paid any mind to the concrete chunks obeying the call of gravity.

On street level below, a little boy looked up from his ice cream, bewildered at the huge rock heading towards _terra firma_.

Captain George Stacy of the NYPD, who had led the police chase and still kneeling beside his car (in case Octopus diverted his attention from the wall-crawler to the civilians), noticed the imminent danger. "Son, look out!"

Stacy, the former MVP of his high school football team, made a flying tackle towards the child, shoving him out of the way, but in doing so, the concrete crushed him instead. Neither Spider nor Octopus gave any notice to the fallen police officer, which Spidey would soon sorely regret. That is later in the story, though.

Then one overriding thought popped into her brain, namely, _This jerk killed my boyfriend and now he's gonna pay._

And all her fears and doubts shrivel in the flames of her white-hot rage.

Her head has been filled with the smoke from her anger, regret, and grief for far too long; it has been the thunder that darkens her mind. But finally, the return of the Octopus had opened her firewalls so that the terror, angst, and rage are _out there_, in the fight where they truly belong, and Spidey's mind is as clear as a diamond. She leaps towards Octopus. There's only one thing she has to do now.

Decide.

So she does.

She decides to _win._

The mad scientist notices to his dismay and growing horror that the web-slinger is finally getting the best of him. The tentacles try their best to yank ShadowSpider off, but she clings to him with the same adhesive power she used to cling to walls, and she starts to pound on him with such force that only his sheer willpower prevents him from blacking out.

Then she decides to quit holding back.

She decides to quit pulling her punches.

She decides that Otto Octavius should lose his life as Peter Parker lost his.

Decision was now reality, here. Her fists move simultaneously with her will and they teach her terrible things. She hits him one, twice, a dozen times, kicks him a dozen more. She decides that Octopus should die with every bone in his body broken, just as Peter did. In the fight, there is only terror and rage.

Octopus gasps for his life.

"Ask me nicely!" Spidey shouts, smashing her head into his.

"Never!" Octopus is defiant to the end.

"Ask me! Beg for your life!" she commands again, and shatters his nose to the back of his head.

"_I said ask me! I want you to beg for mercy!_" she screams, smashing his jaw beyond repair.

"Please…" he gasps, "I'm begging you to spare my life."

She spits on him, a last gesture of contempt. "You didn't spare Peter Parker's!" she shouts at him, and breaks the last thing on his body she hasn't already: his neck.


	3. The Aliens Among Us

To Song With No Soul: The ottophiles all like to snicker knowingly at my references to Indiana Jones, Dudley Do-Right, and the DaVinci Code.

To Excel: I only saw Otto beg like that once, at the end of the Countdown story arc (An ottophile would know what I mean.), after Spidey beat him to a pulp in a sewer. A weak precedent is as good as any.

Happy reading!

Chapter 3: The Aliens Among Us

"_Well the suit got tight and it split at the seams,_

_But I kept it out of habit and I kept it real clean._

_But if it's getting faded, if it's running out of thread,_

_Could you just do this for me my friend,_

_And please, just please, bury me with it!"_

Modest Mouse, "Bury Me With It"

_morning, midtown high_

"I can't believe it," Liz Allen said, poring over the new early edition of the _Daily Bugle_. "Even I can't believe she would _do_ something like that. Superheroes aren't supposed to kill."

Flash Thompson jerked the paper towards him to see the headline: _ShadowSpider's Vigilante Justice. _"Ah, I say good riddance. Man, MJ, what's wrong with you? You look like you haven't slept since Clinton was President!"

"I told her that whatever it was, Starbucks would cure it."

"How much Starbucks, a swimming pool's worth? Hey, where were you last night? I wanted to invite you to my second official Webheads meeting, but you weren't answering your cell."

"I--don't remember." This was actually the truth, not a cover. She really _didn't_ remember what exactly went on last night.

"Ah, you see the headline yet?" Liz asked. "ShadowSpider just murdered a supervillain."

_Murdered?_ Mary Jane couldn't believe it. Was _that_ what happened last night? She'd never believed in killing. Oh, there were some New York superheroes who did--the Punisher came to mind here--but any criminals she found in her sights ended up in her web for the real heroes--the police. It was not up to her, she always thought, to dispense justice. She choked her next words out. "What supervillain?"

"They say he was Doctor Octopus, the one who killed Peter Parker--"

Mary Jane had thought often of what would happen if Spider-Woman came upon him again. But she wouldn't kill even him, would she? _Apparently, she would._

"They _say_," Flash picked up. "That dude was seriously messed up. Face bloody, every bone in his body shattered, and the weirdest part--his tentacles were missing. Ripped right off him, looks like. They had to use DNA and dental records to identify him!"

Mary Jane suddenly felt sick to her stomach, either from her over-active imagination displaying the spectacle or the thought that she could actually be capable of that. "I have to go now," she said.

_midmorning, midtown high_

Current Events was by far the liveliest class in Midtown High, in spite of the popular stereotype about teenagers who would rather vote in _American Idol_ than a real election. Miss McCarthy, their teacher-who by coincidence was distantly related to a more infamous McCarthy-would turn on the TV news and discuss an important issue, no holds barred.

"_Today, we're talking about the dangers of vigilantism. Specifically, what happens in our society when untrained and unarmed civilians, tired of watching thugs take over their city, are allowed and encouraged, to dress up and fight crime. What threat do they pose? Not just to innocent bystanders, but also to themselves. What we're watching here is exclusive footage of ShadowSpider taken by a tourist in Manhattan," _pointed out O'Reilly, the news program host

"_Let me tee it up to my first guest, Mr. J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the _Daily Bugle_, welcome to the no-spin zone. We have law enforcement already. They're called police officers. Do we really need vigilantes like ShadowSpider?"_

"_To call Spider-Woman, or ShadowSpider as she calls herself now, is to give her too much credit. Look, anyone could wear a costume…anyone. So how are the police supposed to tell the difference anymore between the so-called good guys and the bad guys when they can't see their real faces? What do they have to hide?"_

"_Superheroes hide their faces because they fear retaliatory actions against them or their loved ones," _O'Reilly pointed out. _"That's why we have a Witness Protection Program."_

"_My concern is that we don't know who is taking the law into their own hands. ShadowSpider has already killed a man."_

"_Yeah, she killed Otto Octavius, a supervillain who is implicated in the deaths of four people, the youngest a high school student."_

"_Octavius would have been caught and he would have been sent to jail."_

"_Remember that this is the no-spin zone, Mr. Jameson. Even if mainstream law enforcement could have caught him, even if he was convicted of all four murders in a court of law, even if he got the death penalty, even if he didn't escape, he would have died of old age in jail-and if he got free, he would have killed again. I don't fault ShadowSpider for trying to prevent that."_

Miss McCarthy shut the TV off. "So, what do you think? Do you agree with Jameson or O'Reilly?"

Flash immediately raised his hand. "O'Reilly's right. He was going to kill someone again if ShadowSpider didn't catch him first. New York is better off with one less supervillain."

You'd think MJ would have concurred. But she had long ago decided that the best way to ensure no one suspected her as Spider-Woman was to speak out against her. "No way. The American justice system works most of the time. A superhero shouldn't be acting as a judge, jury, and executioner."

_I don't even know who I am anymore. I can't remember what I do all night. I know I'm doing _something,_ because I'm definitely not _sleeping.

_late afternoon, watson residence_

Mary Jane went home to change for her date with Storm. She opened her closet to fetch a dress and her old costume, but what she found there as well made her sick.

Four shiny, silvery, utterly freakish tentacles had snaked out from between boxes of shoes.

_I did do it. I _did _kill him!_

Hands trembling, she reached for the phone. This was going to be more than an ordinary date.

* * *

Next: Chapter 4: Venomous. The identity of the QoF alternate reality is revealed. The possibilities so far include: Edward Brock, Liz Allen, Gwen Stacy, MJ Watson, and even as one Loyal Minion suggested, Peter Parker himself! Stay tuned... 


	4. Venomous

Yes, my Loyal Minions, this is the moment you've all been waiting for, all the suspense and review-page guessing has built up to this: the identification of the alternate reality Venom! (laughs maniacally while leaning back in desk chair and stroking cat) If you haven't read the previous two Quirk of Fate stories, I suggest you catch up now.

To Song With No Soul: I like replying to you because you like reviewing my fics. A symbiote, as we've seen, or will see in the upcoming Spidey 3, is capable of unlimited savagery. Of course, J. Jameson and all those who yelp about mutants taking the law into their own hands sure are grateful to them once they prevent the latest supervillain from blowing the city up. And yes, you have read this before, but I used a different Fox News show: The Countdown story arc featured a debate, special guest Reed Richards, on "Hannity and Colmes."

As always, whether old or new, read and review!

Chapter 4: Venomous

"_Between the conception_

_And the creation_

_Beween the emotion _

_And the response _

_Falls the Shadow..._

_Between the desire_

_And the spasm_

_Between the potency _

_And the existence_

_Between the essence _

_And the descent_

_Falls the Shadow."_

T.S. Eliot, _The Hollow Men_

_evening, ellis island_

Storm's voice was frantic. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know what I was putting you through!"

"What do you mean, Johnny?" By the tone of his voice, it was very bad.

"That black stuff, I never should have given it to you. It's a living creature..."

"Yeah, I deduced that already. Great discovery, Sherlock Holmes."

"...that survives on the life force of the creature it inhabits. It's sorta like...a space vampire."

"A _what_?!"

"Are there any gaps in your memory where you don't remember what you do in that suit? Do people ask if you've been sleeping lately?" Storm inquired.

Mary Jane knew it was true. Johnny would never intentionally give her a space vampire...would he? She didn't know _anything_ anymore. She didn't know who she was, what she did half the time...

"Do you remember killing Doctor Octopus and ripping his tentacles off?"

She admitted it. "He killed my first boyfriend, but even then I wouldn't have killed him..."

"The creature is starting to take over you, Spidey. It's making you do stuff you wouldn't normally. It feeds off of every living creature it gets close to. It's a symbiote, Spidey. On the one hand, it bonds to you and increases your strength and helps you do neat stuff like shape-shift and turn invisible, but what it gives to you with its right hand it takes away with its left. It's eating you from the inside out and you have to get rid of it."

"So, you knew of what it was going to do...and you _gave it to me anyway?!_"

"No, actually I didn't! I swear to God, my sis just told me this stuff yesterday!"

She only knew one question to ask next. "Do you know how to get rid of it?"

"I can guess..."

"I don't need guesses now!"

"My best guess would be strong sonic energy, or fire. That's what Sue told me."

"Fire, huh? You got me into this mess, so I think it's only fair that the Human Torch meets me at St. Patrick's cathedral tomorrow night and helps me get out of it."

Mary Jane hurriedly hung up the phone.

_afternoon, midtown high_

In the common area, a small knot of students had gathered.

At the center of the group stood a tall blonde girl, dressed entirely in black. She would have been quite pretty if not for the morose expression on her face. A group of popular girls surrounded her, teasing her mercilessly.

Mary Jane stood at the fringes of the group, watching as her friend, Liz Allen, poured a carton of chocolate milk over the blonde's hair.

Liz pushed the blonde to the ground. "What, you gonna do something? Try anything and you'll go the same way your dad did!"

Apparently, the comment about the father had pushed the blonde over the edge. She leapt to her feet and pulled out a switchblade.

"You don't scare me!" she yelled, pulling Liz towards her by the collar. "I grew up fighting for my life in the ghetto! Talk smack about my father one more time and I'll stick you like a pig!"

Mercifully, a teacher caught the scene in the common hall and intervened. "Elizabeth Allen! Gwendolyn Stacy! I expect this kind of behavior out of Gwen, but you, Liz..."

A skater piped up, "Liz provoked it. She was insulting her dad."

"Oh, is that so?" the teacher asked. "Gwen, I have utmost sympathy for your loss, but I will not tolerate this kind of behavior at school. And _you_, Liz, are coming with me to the office so you can learn respect for a fallen police officer."

Liz was indignant. "What?! _She's _the one who threatened _me_..."

Mary Jane fidgeted. She decided to introduce herself. "I'm Mary Jane Watson."

"I'm Gwen Stacy."

"Um, so your father was a police officer?"

"Yeah. Captain George Stacy, the best of New York's finest."

"Killed in the line of duty?"

Gwen frowned. "Killed in a superhero battle. The papers say they were tearing bricks off the wall and...my dad was hit by one."

"I'm sorry," MJ said, and meant it, even though she didn't remember that detail. "Who takes care of you now?"

"The _Daily Bugle_ has raised some funds--not that I need charity--and one of their photographers, Eddie Brock, is in the process of adopting me. He's going to take me to my First Communion as soon as I finish my studies." She chuckled. "I don't think they would be doing this if ShadowSpider wasn't responsible for Dad's death."

"Do you hate ShadowSpider? Do you blame her?"

She clenched her fists. "Wouldn't you? If I had superpowers I would strangle her right now."

_late evening, cathedral of saint patrick_

She sighed, slowly climbing up the rafters of the cathedral.

"Smart move, Spidey," Storm encouraged her. "Get right under those bells. If the sonic waves don't peel that off, I'm right here."

It was getting harder and harder to crawl to the bells. Somehow, the symbiote knew what she was planning to do to it, and it wanted absolutely no part of the plan. It was resisting with all its might.

"Help me, Johnny!"

Storm raced up to the rafters, physically rolled her under the bells.

"Start ringing!" she commanded. "Don't stop until you're sure it's all off!"

Storm started pulling ropes, ringing certain doom for the symbiote. It started slowly peeling off, crawling away in pain. But it wasn't the only one hurting.

Spidey was screaming. "Oww, my head! It hurts, it's killing my head!"

Storm was screaming back. "It's not all the way off yet!"

Spidey's head was cracking under the pressure. Storm realized that his beloved could end up dead if he didn't do something, but the symbiote got to her first. The enormous mass of black goo was dragging her across the rafters, away from the bells.

"Hey!" Storm shouted. "She's not yours! Give her back!"

The bells slowly stopped ringing; the symbiote finally released her. They stared at it in amazement as it crawled away; it seems that during all this time with her it had learned some measure of human empathy and had saved her life.

But there was another in the church seeking solace.

Gwen Stacy knelt in front of the altar, praying for her father's soul, praying for justice. _Spider-Woman must pay for murdering my father. A life for a life, Lord. Make me an instrument of Your will. Make me Your sword and Your arm. _

As the symbiote crawled into the church proper, it caught sight of Gwen Stacy. It saw her, and understood she was who it needed. She saw it, and understood what it was offering her.

The answer to her prayers.

She accepted the deal.

* * *

Next: Chapter 5: Arms and the Woman 


	5. Arms and the Woman

To Song With No Soul: The Fantastic Four, as we know, are astronauts as well as superheroes; they have much experience with outer space and all its life forms. You're right, maybe Brock shouldn't be the first choice to adopt a teenage girl whose father was caught in the crossfire of a Spider-Person's battle...

You think the revelation of Gwen Stacy as Venom was something? By the time I'm through, this fic is going to have more twists than a corkscrew...Happy reading!

Chapter 5: Arms and the Woman

"_Arma virumque cano..." ("I sing of arms and the man...") --_Virgil, _The Aeneid_

"_I put all the pain you gave to me on display;_

_I didn't realize, instead of setting it free,_

_I took what I hated and made it a part of me."_

Linkin Park, "Figure.09"

_early afternoon, midtown high_

Flash Thompson hung over his girlfriend's shoulder, attempting to read her copy of the _Daily Bugle_. "Damn! Just when you get rid of one supervillain, another pops up in its place!"

"Are you sure that's not just another picture of ShadowSpider?" a nearby girl asked.

"No way," argued Liz. "I've seen Spider-Woman. _Up close_. That ain't her. See those funky fangs and claws?"

Mary Jane jerked the paper toward her, realizing that Liz was right. She knew she'd gotten rid of the symbiote. She was feeling better than she had in a month. Actually, she was feeling healthier than a truckload of granola, but just _what_ had she unleashed on the world?

She read the article over Liz's shoulder, thinking about what probably happened. The church bells had chased the symbiote away from _her_--but they'd also chased it _towards_ some other unsuspecting schmuck. Her first thought was that she needed to warn said schmuck about what it would do to her. Then get Johnny to help her take it off her.

Her next thought was that human nature being what it was, this "Venom" (as that venerable paragon of journalistic integrity called her) character wouldn't _let_ her take it. Venom probably _liked_ the power the symbiote could afford her. Power corrupts, after all, and absolute power corrupted absolutely. Superhuman power, she knew from experience, also corrupted superlatively.

She also knew that Venom would be stronger than her. She needed a little extra help.

She also knew where to find it.

But she didn't know that Venom was right across the lunch room, watching her.

She also didn't know that Venom had realized who she was.

_late afternoon, midtown high_

_No, it can't be!_ Gwen Stacy thought. _Mary Jane Watson? That's Spider-Woman? That's the girl who killed my dad?_ She shook her head in disbelief. _But she was so nice to me. _

But Ted Bundy was _nice_, she knew. Hitler was a vegetarian and he loved his dogs. That didn't excuse them of the atrocities they'd perpetrated. They were murderers.

And so was Spider-Woman. She was, in Gwen's mind, that most repugnant of murderer--the cop killer.

_She has to pay, _the monster pushed her inside her mind. _A life for a life. That is the Law. _

She, Gwendolyn Stacy, called Venom when she prowled the New York City streets at night, was no murderer. She was just defending her family honor. As old Hamlet commanded his son, _"If thou didst ever thy dear father love, revenge his most foul and unnatural murder."_

And she, like the melancholy Dane, would fulfill her duty. _"O most pernicious woman! O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables--meet it is I set it down, That one may smile and smile, and be a villain." _

And she realized with a start that she was quoting the Bard aloud, and stopped herself. Her hands started shaking. Venom would not jump on Spider-Woman now, while they were both in civilian form. They'd never understand it then. Besides, she was not going to give up all of her humanity to the power; she had given too much of it up already.

"So, you still on with Jameson?" Liz asked.

"Yeah," said Mary Jane, shrugging. "Not my first choice, but he's a good guy. I care a great deal for him. We're still on."

"It's too bad. If only Peter had lived. Or Harry--"

Gwen had also read that Spider-Woman had been responsible for the death of Peter Parker, a young photographer who had taken pictures of her for the paper. All the more reason--but wait! She had a _boyfriend_. Great news. The bug had killed the man she loved most in the world. She should suffer the same loss. A simple kill was too good for this bitch. She needed to have the man _she_ most loved killed, and her life destroyed as Gwen's had, and only _then_ she should suffer the death penalty. The _Bugle_ wanted her arrested. But the way Venom would deal with her, there would be no ineffectual criminal court. Spider-Woman would answer straight to a Supreme Lawmaker, a Judge from whose sentence there was no appeal.

Mary Jane was so absorbed in what she would do on tonight's date with John Jameson and her inevitable superhero battle that the classes just flew by. The bell was ringing, and she never rushed home faster without superhuman means.

_early evening, watson residence_

But when the clock struck six p.m., she knew something was wrong. This was when Jameson was supposed to be picking her up. You could set your clock by this guy. He'd be here now, on the dot.

_Maybe he just forgot_, she tried to think. But she knew better. Her spidey-sense was nagging at her, she knew that Jameson would never forget, he wrote everything down in his Blackberry _and_ his palm pilot. He had everything planned. If this was _Storm_, "he'd just forgot" would be reasonable.

She had to swing by his place to check. Literally, in her case. She knew her spidey-sense would warn her of mortal danger to certain loved ones as well as herself. It had led her, for example, to where Goblin had held her aunt and best pal. She thought that if it were a guy that had been bitten by that spider and taken on its powers, the spidey-sense wouldn't work quite that way. It would only warn him of mortal danger to himself alone. Females of every species, she knew, were the keepers of the family.

_evening, jameson residence_

But even her spidey-sense couldn't prepare her for what she found outside his door.

John Jameson was dead, a bouquet of red roses still clutched in his hands, murdered in the very act of walking to his car to pick her up. Acting on intuition alone, she jerked up his shirt.

_Why do all my boyfriends end up like this?_

She remembered, remembered it against her will.

_Peter Parker, crushed to death, every bone in his body broken by Doctor Octopus._

_Harry Osborn, body transformed, mind twisted, soul extinguished by the Green Goblin. _

_John Jameson, found dead with two deep fang marks in his back, life sucked dry by Venom._

Then one overriding thought entered her mind. _I have to break the cycle. I have to warn Johnny Storm._

_evening, ellis island_

Spider-Woman sat perched at their meeting place, the torch that the Statue of Liberty held aloft, welcoming the world's tired and poor. "You're actually on time, Torch."

"You said it was urgent, Spidey," the Human Torch agreed. "Who am I to refuse?"

"You're in danger, Torch. You know there have been others before you."

"Other boyfriends. You never told me why you broke up with them. You never even told me their names."

"I didn't want to break up with them. They were each killed by supervillains. There's a reason why I keep my identity hidden. You could become the fourth."

"Wait--the fourth boyfriend killed by supervillains so far? That sounds a little much."

"I can trust you, can't I?"

"Of course." Torch had dated a lot of girls, it was part of his celebrity status. Those others weren't serious. Spider-Woman _was_. She could understand that being a superhero wasn't all fun and games.

"I dated Peter Parker a few times. Heard of him from the _Bugle_?"

The Torch nodded. He knew how he died. Not pleasantly at all.

"Have you heard about Harry Osborn?"

Torch nodded again. What a pitiful waste of potential and money.

"Have you heard about John Jameson?"

"My God--he wasn't killed off too."

"He _was_, Torch. Just this afternoon. I can't let anything happen to you, Torch! You have to help me destroy the symbiote. You have to help me defeat Venom."

"You have to do something for me first, Spidey." Torch's voice was even. "You trusted me with your secret. You asked me to trust you. But you won't let me."

"What are you asking of me?"

"You know my secret identity."

"So does the rest of New York. The Fantastic Four is publicly known."

"But yours isn't. You're so busy protecting everyone you love from yourself that you won't let down your walls. Not even to the people you love."

"With my track record, it's not hard to see why."

"I'd do anything for you, Spidey. I'd die for you. I'd tell Reed Richards to make you one of the Fantastic. Your reputation would never be in question again. I'd tell Jonah Jameson what he could do with himself and I'd buy the _Bugle_ so he could never write shit about you again. I'd call up this lawyer I know, Jennifer Walters, and she'd help you sue his ass for libel. But you won't let me have even one piece of you in return? You won't even let me know who you are inside?"

"Johnny, you'd pay for that piece with your life."

"I'll have you know I can defend myself."

_He's right_, she knew. _You can't have love without trust._

She pulled off her mask. "My real name is Mary Jane Watson. I've been Spider-Woman for around a year. I was on a school field trip to a science lab and accidentally bit by a radioactive spider. I ended up taking on its powers."

They say that curiosity killed the cat. They also say that familiarity breeds contempt. That, and "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."

Jonathan Storm was about to learn the truth of those sayings. The truth is, he'd _liked_ the whole mystery about Spider-Woman. Without the knowledge of her identity, he was free to imagine just who was under that mask.

And now that he knew, she was starting to look less like an exciting costumed adventurer and vigilante than just a regular high-school student. The truth was disappointing. Mundane.

"Goodbye, Mary Jane," he said before he flamed up and flew off. "And one more thing--just put your mask back on!"

She did, and sighed, trying to see the good side of her broken heart. _Oh, well, at least he won't be attacked by supervillains trying to kill my boyfriends._

_He won't end up like John. Or Harry. Or Peter._

_Perhaps it's for the best. _

_night, watson residence_

She swung home, opened the closet door, moved the shoes. She lifted them up, glistening and silvery, their odd shining beauty concealing their raw strength and deadliness.

_An Octopus has eight arms...and a Spider has eight legs._

She pulled her uniform up, knowing from an article in one of Peter's old _Scientific American _magazines how they worked. How their artificial intelligence operated on the user's mental commands. How to put them on, and how to use them, how to command them. How the writers of that magazine had focused on the ways in which their inventor, Dr. Otto Octavius, used them to assist in his work in nuclear physics. How they never predicted the other ways he'd use them later.

The harness clicked into place. Mary Jane's spidey-strength didn't prevent her from feeling the sharp pain as the receptor needles of the artificial spine stabbed her upper back. She was surprised that the harness, built to fit a rather plump guy, fit her so snugly. She supposed that occasionally, Dr. Octavius let his wife or a female assistant wear them.

She remembered another man--her dad. Philip Watson was a failed novelist and an unrepentant alcoholic who, to put it very charitably, lavishly practiced corporal punishment on her.

She remembered what he'd say in the middle of a beating. Or what she thought he said. His words were so slurred you couldn't tell.

_"You're not always going to have a man around to save you, girl! I'm doing this because I love you, can't you see? Life is hard, the world will walk all over you if you don't fight back! You have to be tough in this world!"_

_What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. _As she had all her life, she would take what hurt her and use it as a weapon, to make her strong.

She would take what killed her first love and use it to make her more powerful.

* * *

My spidey-sense for plot development is telling me...that you like this chapter and will put reviews in my inbox! Stay tuned for Chapter 6: Darkness Visible. 


	6. Darkness Visible

The Trickster shall now pull another review from her inbox: To Song With No Soul: In all fairness to Storm, I meant for him to be the Black Cat figure of the Quirk of Fate universe; the one in love not so much with Mary Jane Watson as with the idea of Spider-Woman. And I thought the tentacles were a great idea myself. On the subject of killing characters: Sometimes characters need to die. Would Peter have become Spider-Man in Uncle Ben hadn't been killed? Would Harry Potter have become great if his parents hadn't been murdered? The death of a loved one could spur one to superheroism--or revenge and villainy.

Oh, yeah, reader like, huh? Let's see what you think of this latest chapter (and next-to-last) in the Quirk of Fate saga; happy reading!

Chapter 6: Darkness Visible

"_What if I wanted to fight,_

_Beg for the rest of my life,_

_What would you do?_

_You say you wanted more,_

_What are you waiting for?_

_I'm not running from you!"_

30 Seconds to Mars, "The Kill"

_late afternoon, near allen residence_

Mary Jane liked walking home from school; she knew that using her powers would bring her home faster; but she found that walking, as well as so many other things mundane and sublime, linked her to the world of normalcy.

She'd taken to wearing a red leather trenchcoat in the New York autumn cold; with Venom on the loose, it was best to wear the costume underneath her civilian clothes and keep the tentacles on at all times.

She had since come to a horrifying realization: that Venom knew who she was. The symbiote had passed that knowledge to its new host. Jameson's death was but further proof.

But she also realized that she had to keep living. She had to keep being Spider-Woman. She had a responsibility, and she would deal with Venom when the time came. There was no reason to believe that Venom held a grudge against society in general; the only time to really worry was the time in the near future when her spidey-sense rang with the warning of Venom. And she'd burn _that _bridge when she came to it. As for her secret identity, it wasn't as if Venom was going to post it on her MySpace page for everyone to see.

She came to an intersection lost in thought, until she saw the semi speeding towards her. _Oh, shit!_

Only by leaping out of the way at the last millisecond did she avoid getting turned into spider-road-pizza, she understood. But her reaction time had been drastically slowed because her spidey-sense hadn't warned her at all; and if she didn't know better, she could have sworn she was _pushed_.

She shook her head. She just must not have been paying attention.

Venom shook her head as well, from where she'd been invisibly stalking Mary Jane. _I thought my attack on her aunt would warn her. I thought the car accident would do it. Without her spidey-sense, she should have been run over by that truck. Oh well. I thought I could avoid a full battle. _

_late afternoon, residence of anna watson_

Mary Jane opened the door to her Aunt Anna's house. Her mother was ill and near death; her parent's divorce was finalized. Anna, however, was the closest thing to a real mother she had. She was sorta like Peter Parker's Aunt May in that respect. Every child, she thought, should have an aunt like that.

However, there was no excited greeting or smell of chocolate chip cookies to welcome her home. Anna Watson lay collapsed on the couch, eyes glazed and mouth slack. Mary Jane frantically shook her, afraid that she was...

Anna started to gasp, and sat up. "Oh, thank God you're here!"

"What happened? What was it? Heart attack, stroke--?"

"Oh, it was just a case of the frights, nothing for you to worry about--"

"What frightened you? You have to tell me. I could _never_ stand _anything_ to happen to you. You know that."

_Supervillain attack_, the cold voice of her intuition informed her.

Anna shuddered, trying to find the right words. "It was darkness visible."

_This is the last straw, Venom. You will not touch my loved ones again. Too many of them have fallen already..._

_evening, near times square_

Spider-Woman was on a desperate quest, racing after her prey, thinking, worrying. Venom knew who she was, but that wasn't much of an advantage; so did the Green Goblin, and he paid dearly for that knowledge just as so many others had. Venom was stronger than her, but so was Doctor Octopus, and he was dead and his mechanical strength was now hers. But Venom struck without warning, she could dampen the spidey-sense that forewarned her of danger to her loved ones and herself.

How the hell was she supposed to defeat _that_?

The answer came just as quickly. _You have to find out. You have no choice. _

Spidey raced from building to building, swooping down to street level, tentacles flailing about her like silver streamers. Below her, a woman called out to her. "Help, Spidey, he's got my necklace!"

"Oh, shit!" the jewelry thief muttered. "That's one broad I don't wanna mess with--" He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized Spider-Woman didn't even seem to notice him. "Hey, she didn't even see me!"

"But I did!" snapped a nearby police officer. "Come on, let's go get your picture taken."

"Oh my gawd--" a bystander gasped. She'd evidently seen who the heroine's spidey-sense wouldn't warn her of--Venom, a monster in woman's form, swinging on her own organic webbing.

Spidey paused in her swinging, daring the villainess to catch her.

_late evening, times square_

Spider-Woman dared to talk to Venom as an equal. "I know you're not a criminal, Venom," she shouted. "You don't rob banks or laboratories. So what's your beef with _me_?"

"I don't know why they even call you a superhero," Venom hissed. "_You're _the problem here. _You're _the murderer, _you're_ the supervillain. You're right, I'm _not_ a criminal, I'm a superhero."

_This girl is _so_ off her rocker, _Spidey thought. But her voice remained cold and hard. "Are you by any chance related to J. Jonah Jameson? If you're calling me a murderer, you'd better back it up."

"You murdered my father, a _police officer_. He was a bystander in one of your foolish battles."

"I didn't know Captain George Stacy had a daughter," Spidey lied, recalling the newspaper stories. Now she knew Venom was Gwen Stacy from school. She couldn't bear to attack her now. All she could do was keep her talking until she thought of something.

"You're not worthy to lick his shoes, let alone speak his name," Venom spat. "I also know you were responsible for the death of that photographer who took pictures of you for the _Bugle_."

Spidey snarled underneath her mask, and leapt towards the villainess. _How dare she bring Peter Parker into this?_

Venom unleashed a hard right hook, spinning Spidey back. The heroine shook her head. She'd lost control when Venom mentioned Peter. She'd left herself vulnerable. "Don't worry, I'll give you a fight," Venom assured her. "I won't defeat you too easy, it'll take out all the fun." She pointed a claw at a cell phone webbed to a wall. "The fall of the menacing Spider-Woman, streaming on YouTube for all to see."

She sprung up on the tentacles, racing towards Venom to strike. Venom leapt out of the way, shooting her own organic webbing. "This'll tie you up for a while."

A blade sprung out of Spidey's upper left tentacle, ripping the web to shreds. "You really think so?" Another arm shot out to hit Venom, but she merely caught it with a taloned hand and jerked her ten feet into the air, crashing a wall on the way.

Spider-Woman merely got up again; her spidey-strength allowed her to survive unscathed from impacts that would kill an ordinary human being. These sort of impacts included being caught in another of Venom's webs, pulled towards the monster, and acting as her punching bag for a few minutes.

Sick of holding back and realizing that whatever was left of Gwendolyn Stacy was already almost obliterated by Venom, Spidey got in a few swings of her own; but they only proved useless against the symbiote-possessed villainess. Venom even seemed invulnerable to the merciless strikes of the tentacles.

Spidey had to reach deep into her mind to think of a plan. She remembered the days when she was possessed by the symbiote, when she wore a strange alien costume and patrolled New York City as the ShadowSpider.

She remembered that the costume allowed her to augment her own organic webbing, making it twice as thick and strong. But it took a lot out of her and it would not work like that indefinitely. In fact, her increased strength faded as she was forced to use her webs for long periods.

She smiled. "I'm not waiting for you to make me your human speed bag, Venom! Catch me if you can!" She leapt and spun, climbed and ran along walls, forcing Venom to pursue her.

But Venom was also coming up with a plan.

"Come on!" Spidey wildly looked around. "You're not running off, are you? I thought the party was just starting!"

The heroine gasped as she was knocked to the ground. "Who says I left at all?"

_She can turn invisible. Just fricking great._

Spidey leapt away once more, but Venom also knew of the limitations on her powers. She wasn't falling for the Web Crawler's plan to expend her energy and webs. Venom caught her mid-jump, pulling the web-crawler down, forcing her on the ground.

"Now you'll pay for what you've done--" Venom started, preparing to smash Spidey's head, but her enemy's attention was elsewhere.

For the Amazing Spider-Woman had looked up, and smiled as she saw a fiery streak racing across the sky.


	7. Epilogue: The Gift and the Curse

This is it, friends--the Quirk of Fate Trilogy is going out with a bang! To the Loyal Minions:

To Song With No Soul: I promise you that I will only kill one more person off until the end of the series. No, you probably didn't miss anything; Venom has always had the power to dampen the spidey-sense. I'm only going by regular continuity on this one.

Happy reading!

Chapter 7: Epilogue: The Gift and the Curse

_"I see your face with every punch I take_

_And every bone I break, it's all for you_

_And my worst pains are words I cannot say_

_Still, I will always fight on for you."_

Yellowcard, "Gifts and Curses"

_night, times square_

Spider-Woman's hopes were well-founded. For Jonathan Storm of the Fantastic Four, called the Human Torch, was soaring across the night sky to reconcile with his superhero girlfriend.

The Torch, looking down, saw what he most wanted to see in the whole city. His heart raced. _My Spider-baby! My beloved!_

But as he swooped closer to rooftop level, he realized that he could be too late.

"_Nooo!"_ he cried, sighting his love pinned to the ground by Venom.

Why did he ever doubt her? He'd accused her of not trusting him. But in the end, _he_ had not trusted _her_. What did it matter who she really was? What did it matter what her face looked like under her mask? Wasn't her noble heart and affection for him enough?

_How could I have abandoned her over such a stupid thing, when she needed me so much?_

Venom looked up. _Oh, shit._ The Human Torch, on full flame, was heading straight towards her.

Venom was torn in half by indecision. The symbiote wanted to run. It didn't like fire. Gwen Stacy wanted to stay and get her revenge. They stood, rooted to the ground trying to decide, and then decided that revenge could wait another day. She dropped her prey, and ran.

Half a second too late.

"Come, Watson, come!" Johnny shouted. "The game is afoot!" With that cryptic utterance, he shot a wall of flame straight at Venom. "And our special of the day is evil alien symbiote, delicately roasted..."

The symbiote screeched in pain, shriveling in Johnny's flame.

Slowly, Mary Jane opened her eyes and sat up. "Johnny?" she whispered. "You _do_ still love me."

"It's okay, MJ. Venom's not going to hurt you anymore."

She knew he was sorry for the fight two days ago about her identity. She didn't mention it, and neither did he. It was a mutual understanding. "What about Gwen?" she whispered.

"Who?"

"Gwendolyn Stacy...this girl I knew at school, she picked up the symbiote somehow and..." Spidey and Torch raced to the third figure on the rooftop, a young blonde laying prone on the ground. Johnny was solemn as Mary Jane first felt for a pulse of Gwen's neck, and as she then used her tentacle to seek movement and heat. The search was fruitless.

"She's dead."

Johnny shook his head sadly. "The bond between the symbiote and Gwen was nearly perfect, then. When I killed the symbiote...I killed her."

_the end_

"_If it takes shit to make bliss,_

_Well, I feel pretty blissfully._

_If life's not beautiful without the pain,_

_Well, I'd just rather never ever even see beauty again."_

Modest Mouse, "The View"

There is not much more of this story to tell; shortly after the defeat of Venom, Mary Jane Watson would graduate from high school, accepting the honors for the late Peter Parker and reading the speech he would have given had he lived. She would continue her education as a drama major at Empire State University and continue her acting. The Broadway musical _Heroes and Villains_ would win a Tony Award.

The Amazing Spider-Woman would continue to fight new menaces to humanity--killer robots, planet-eaters, shape-shifting aliens, vampires, supervillains with names like Sandman and Scorpion, Vulture and Mysterio, Electro and Kraven, Shocker, the Mad Thinker, and Doctor Doom. But these battles would be different; she would be fighting these threats alongside her beloved Johnny Storm. The Fantastic Four would become the Fantastic Five. That, however, is a different story to be told another time. Perhaps I will tell it someday; perhaps not.

Thus Mary Jane Watson, the Amazing Spider-Woman, found love and her place in the sun--what you would call a "happy ending." You see, then, how the destiny of an entire world can be changed by one simple action. For it is my task to observe _all_ the Spider-People, on any alternate reality they may exist, by whatever name they may be called. Thus it must ever be, for what else should be the duty of one bound to witness and record all that may happen in this infinite cosmos, one called...the _Watcher_?

**Finis**

"_Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..." --_Semisonic, "Closing Time"


	8. Alternate Epilogue: The Pretender

_Author's note: This may be considered an alternate ending for the Quirk of Fate series, especially as so many readers found much to justifiably criticize in the mainstream ending. _

Chapter 7: Defeat of the Pretender

"_I'm the voice inside your head _

_You refuse to hear_

_I'm the face that you have to face_

_Mirrored in your stare_

_I'm what's left _

_I'm what's right_

_I'm the enemy_

_I'm the hand that will take you down_

_And bring you to your knees._

_So who--are _you?

_Who--are _you_?"_

Foo Fighters, "The Pretender"

"Now you'll pay for what you've done—" Venom started, slamming Spidey's head into the ground.

Spidey craned her neck up to the sky, desperately hoping for some sign of Johnny, some sign of _anyone_ who could help--

_**We were under the impression that you were a **_**superhero.**

_What's that in my head?_ Spidey wondered at the startlingly foreign voice echoing in her head. But she decided to ignore it and think about the question another time, as the situation was definitely not conducive to problem-solving or deductive reasoning. Venom put her right foot on her head, webbing her to the ground.

_**By putting on the harness, you asked for Our help.**_

_**You can't be a superhero **_**and **_**a damsel in distress, you know.**_

_There's something in my head, something talking..._

_**We were once Our Father's assistants. We made him who he was.**_

A flood of uninvited memories entered her mind--

A small, chubby boy curls up in a corner as a dark-haired bear of a man took his belt out of his pant loops--

A short, chubby teenager dejectedly slouches as a tall, chestnut-haired woman shouts at him. Her voice echoes in MJ's head. _"I suppose she _touches_ you, does she? Like all the dirty little sluts I always kept you from? Does she do dirty things with you, Otto? Do you touch her back?"--_

A short, chubby teenager slouches behind a tree, head bowed, watching as a petite blonde in a white lab coat is escorted out of a fenced compound by uniformed military, tears leaking from behind his thick glasses--

A short, chubby young man, chestnut hair falling in curls over his thick glasses, tries to explain the theory of relativity to an auburn-haired beauty on the steps of a graduate school--

A short chubby middle-aged man puts the finishing touches on four robotic tentacles as the auburn-haired woman watches. _"Are you sure you can stabilize the reaction?"_ she asks--

_Ock's tentacles! They're talking!_

_**You figured this fact out already. Good for you,**_ the voice replied, dripping with more sarcasm than she'd previously thought a computer was capable of.

With only a slight effort, the tentacles ripped through the web, springing Spidey to her feet.

_**Let Us help, Spider-Woman. Don't over-think what We are about to do.**_

The decision was made. She was never going to defeat Venom alone. _Besides_, she thought, a wave a nausea hitting on her, _I killed their master. If I say no, they could turn on me and kill me in turn for it._

One of the tentacles shot out towards Venom, a small secondary tentacle winding around her enemy. Another bound her further, while two raised Spidey up as if on stilts, quickly crawling up three blocks to an electronics store. The tentacles snaked through a nearby open window, unlocked the door, walked Spidey into the store, shutting the door behind her.

_**We would suggest that you now cover your ears.**_

Spidey kneeled down and covered her ears.

The tentacles ejected Venom, and almost instantaneously, all the stereos, car radios, and televisions turned on, top volume.

Venom--or more properly, her alien half--started to screech in pain as the White Stripes blared from seventy-five sets of speakers. It decided, to express it in human terms, _to hell with this._ It started to peel off and crawl, weakening with every second, towards the door, revealing a pretty blonde girl wearing black.

Gwendolyn Stacy crawled towards the door on her knees and chased after the symbiote, covering her ears as well. "Hey where the fuck are you going!" she shouted. "I need you!" She shouted defiance at her adversary. "I don't need that stupid goo anyway! I'll find a way to kill you, because I know who you are..."

Gwen paused. "Your real name is, uh..." Then she realized, with utmost chagrin, that when the symbiote left, it took all its knowledge with its power.

"This is for your own good, Gwen!" Spidey shouted above the din. "No one can control the symbiote! It was twisting you for its own purposes!"

And then Gwen laughed. "It was a gift from God, Spider-Woman! I _prayed_ for you to die at my father's memorial service! God granted my prayer by giving me the power I needed to defeat you!_ 'Twisted me?' I_ twisted _it_ for _my_ purposes!" She reached frantically for the symbiote, but it slipped underneath the door, lost to her forever.

"Gwen--" Spidey breathed. "I'm sorry for your father's death. I was just so lost in the battle with Doctor Octopus--I was reckless."

"Nice sentiment, Web-Spinner, but it won't give me my father back."

Completely of its own accord, a tentacle shot out towards Gwen, a blade popping out of its pincer. Gwen's eyes widened as the blade pierced her through.

"But I--I forgive you," Gwen whispered, and fell to the floor.

Horrified, Spidey whispered, "What the fuck did you do that for?"

_**She was a threat, Miss Mary Jane. If she ever acquired superhuman powers again, she would have attempted to kill you again.**_

_I suppose I should thank you for your help. Even though it still sounds weird to talk to computer systems._

_**This is only the beginning, Miss Mary Jane. We have so much to offer you in your "career". Lead Us, Mary Jane Watson. Guide Us. Love Us.**_

_**You will be Our Mother. We will be your children.**_

_**After all, We are orphans. We have no Father anymore. **_

Underneath her mask, Spidey gaped at the suggestion.

_**With Our power bonded to yours, anyone foolish enough to challenge Us will fall at Our feet. They will be as Gwendolyn Stacy, as that interfering photographer who dared to document on a memory card Our Father's humiliation--**_

Spidey gasped in horror. "That _interfering photographer_ had a _name_! He had a _family_! He had a _girlfriend_!"

_**We know this, Miss Mary Jane. You have shared your memories with Us, just as We shared Our Father's memories with you.**_

_**But those facts are irrelevant. He was weak, and failed due to the stupidity of attempting to interfere with Our Father's noble work.**_

_**But We are strong, and We shall take Our rightful place in this pitiful world. Just say the word, Mother, and we shall make it happen.**_

Glorious images took the place of Otto's memories in her head. She saw herself in a red bathing suit, doing laps in a swimming pool of money--

She saw herself in a glittering red dress, walking a red carpet on the arm of Johnny Storm as the cameras of a dozen paparazzi flashed--

She saw herself starring in a blockbuster movie with Tom Cruise as the lead--

She saw herself clasping Peter Parker, somehow, impossibly returned from the dead--

"No!" Spidey shouted. "I hated Doctor Octopus for so long because--not only did he kill Peter and Captain Stacy, but because of his actions sent Green Goblin and Venom after me for revenge! I _can't_ risk that victory, only to become who I hate!"

Tears leaked out from her mask. "I have to forgive him...I have to reject his choices..."

She shouted at the tentacles. "I reject your offer! I disown you! And I'm sure as hell _not_ your mother!"

The tentacles screeched in what Spidey interpreted as anger, and the pincers turned to face her. The blade popped out.

"Listen to me!" she cried, grasping the tentacle with the blade, using all her extraordinary strength to push it away. "You listen to _me_ now! Go away! Just get away!"

The tentacles obediently flopped down, the harness snapping open, the nerve center loosening its hold over her spine.

Spidey panted with the effort involved in imposing her will over her tentacles, eventually rising to her feet and webbing the tentacles securely together.

_I told Gwen that no one could control the symbiote's power. Well, I was definitely in no position to throw stones._

_God, this whole superhero business totally bites._

But Peter Parker's loving smile flashed in front of her, more real than any holographic illusions the tentacles' artificial intelligence could offer her, even more real than reality itself.

_I never asked for these powers. I never asked to be bitten by that spider. But I have this power now, and it comes with certain responsibilities to society, neglected at my peril and the peril of those I love. _

Jameson's snarl briefly replaced Peter's smile. Mary Jane waved it away with a thought.

_So what if no one's throwing me a parade? That's their fucking problem._

_the end_

There is not much more of this story to tell; shortly after the defeat of Venom, Mary Jane Watson would graduate from high school, accepting the valedictorian's honors for the late Peter Parker and reading the speech he would have given had he lived. "Every one of you has a power inside," she would advise her class. "But with every great power must come great responsibility. Your power, whatever it is, will take a lot out of you but will give much in return." She would continue her education as a drama major at Empire State University and continue her acting. The Broadway musical _Heroes and Villains_ would win a Tony Award.

The Amazing Spider-Woman would continue to fight new menaces to humanity—supervillains with names like Sandman and Scorpion, Vulture and Mysterio, Electro and Kraven, Shocker and Doctor Doom, Lizard and Morlun. But now she had the confidence of her convictions she needed to fulfill her destiny and face all challenges her life would throw her way.

I do not pretend that the story of Mary Jane Watson has a happy ending. Happy endings are for fairy tales and movies. But we may safely say our heroine found her destiny and her true role in life, no longer plauged by the insecurity that had haunted her before.

You see, then, dear reader, how the destiny of an entire world can be changed by one simple action. For it is my task to observe _all_ the Spider-People, on any alternate reality they may exist, by whatever name they may be called. Thus it must ever be, for what else should be the duty of one bound to witness and record all that may happen in this infinite cosmos, one called...the _Watcher_?

**Finis**

"_Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..." —_Semisonic"Closing Time"

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Well, go ahead and tell me which ending you prefer! What are you waiting for? There's the review button! 


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